Not too long ago I saw an article on Facebook for pairing wine with Girl Scout cookies.  I looked on Pinterest and found three posts with suggested wines for each of the cookie types.  Mr. Bee and I thought it would be the perfect theme for the neighborhood parties we all take turns hosting each month. Since, Girl Scout Cookies are on sale right now, it’s the perfect time to gather up cookies and host your own party. Did you know Girl Scouts have been selling cookies for over 100 years?  Read about the history of Girl Scout Cookie sales here.  Even if you just have a party for one, what’s better than sweets and wine!  

Since Girl Scout cookies are plentiful right now, with the little scouts selling them on almost every corner, it wasn’t hard to score six varieties of cookies.  I made my list and did some research to determine the suggested type of wine for each cookie I had purchased.  Mr. Bee and I headed over to Total Wine last week after our date-night dinner and a very helpful, friendly sales associate helped us shop for each wine we needed.

Thin Mint — Michel Gassier Syrah Les Piliers at $14.99

Tagalongs — Script and Seal Merlot for $9.99

Samoa — A Port Quinta das Carvalhas for $17.99

Savannah Smiles — There were a few suggestions on this and we went with Petals Riesling for $8.99

Trefoils — A sparkling wine was suggested and I already had the perfect bubbly in my wine fridge.  A Petite Cadeau from Wine Shop at Home, an online wine club.

Do Si Dos — We tried a Zweigelt, and Austrian wine,  from Winzer Krems Blauer for $13.99

Total Wine extends 15% off when you purchase 6 or more wines at one purchase, so we saved some money.  The Port was on sale during their Spanish wine promotion.

To prep for the party I used long, white platters (from Walmart) to showcase the cookies – a steal at $7 a platter. White platters are perfect because they draw attention to the detail and colors of your food.

We cut the front off of each box so the guests could see the full description for the cookie.  Then I took small chalkboards and wrote the name of each cookie and placed them at the top of the platters.  We used cocktail napkins and dessert plates.

We told our guests to eat dinner first and to come over around 7:30 p.m.  I asked a few neighbors to bring mixed nuts, and sliced apples and cheddar cheese to help cut the sweet between cookies.

Cindy, of course, went the extra mile to prepare the prettiest platter of five varieties of apples and labeled them for identification.

The Petit Cadeau from Wine Shop at Home was so light and refreshing.  It was paired with the Trefoil (a shortbread cookie).  I love sparkling wine and I will definitely purchase this variety again.

The Riesling we selected was light and was paired with the Savannah Smile — a lemon powdered sugar cookie. The price point on this was a great bargain and would make a perfect summertime wine.

The Merlot was just so-so and we felt the peanut butter in the cookie was a little overpowering.

The French Syrah was excellent with the Thin Mint.  The coolness of the cookie with the peppery taste of this wine was superb.  It was rated number one among all the guests as the best pairing. And finishing off the tasting was the Port.  We practically finished the bottle.  I am not a fan of coconut, but the pairing of this Port with the Samoa highlighted accentuated the coconut.

I didn’t get a pic of the Austrian Zweigelt variety with the Do Si Dos.  It was a brand new wine for all of us to try and it was pretty good.  It paired nicely with the peanut butter sandwich cookie.

We had fun tasting each wine.   One of our friends is a wine enthusiast and asked us to smell the wine and with our first taste to try and identify the taste notes — floral, peppery, fruity?  It was fun to come with up with our ideas then compare the crowd’s input with the description given of each wine by the winemaker.  In most cases, each label on the bottle described the wine, but if there was no description we looked it up on the Total Wine website.  All of the wines we selected with just input from the Total Wine expert were worth trying and ones we would definitely try again.

For more ideas for Girl Scout cookie, wine pairing check out my Pinterest board Just a Sip.